Rewatch for 2x11 - All Alone in the Night

[kanadka]

There's a lot of really cool stuff in this episode and it's one of my favourites for all of them. (Not just for the obvious Neroon cameo ... but yes also for the Neroon cameo. I will once again attempt to contain my love for Neroon.)

Here's a quick (plot-based) recap of the episode, and here's the Lurker's Guide page.

I love how much Babylon 5 stuffs into an episode and still manages to make it feel like Monster Of The Week, and this episode is no exception:
Episode Subplot A: Sheridan is kidnapped by a race called the Streib and narrowly escapes death. He brings back a friend!
Episode Subplot B: Delenn is called back to Minbari space (well, to the Grey Council ship, wherever that's floating) and finds that she's been replaced on the Council. You'll Never Guess Who's Taken Her Place (Priests Hate Him!)
Overarching Plot Addition: General Hague arrives at Babylon 5 with important information about homeworld relating to Santiago's demise, Clarke's rise to power, and the Psi Corps' involvement. Sheridan puts together what will eventually be the human component of the Army of Light.
Overarching Plot Addition: Sheridan's Dream is in this episode.

I didn't take any screencaps myself, but here are some I've shamelessly linked-to under this cut.

Delenn in the Grey Council chamber. I always loved her hair like this!! One of my favourite things about S2 is this swoopy glossy hair of hers.

Delenn meets with A Mysterious Figure. Seriously, who could it be talking like that, the voice could really be anyone, we just don't know.

Surprise, it's Neroon! Bad surprise. 4 ≠ 3. Math is the Worker Caste's department, I guess.

True friends are the Narns we rescued along the way to become plot devices in future seasons.

Ivanova in the dream. She's so pretty!!

This is the No Corwins Allowed Club. Also no Mordens.

And here's some lovely art by IOV about on the A-plot of the episode:


Fun Facts and Tidbits: I brought loads this time!

• In the intro to this script, JMS shamelessly admits the A-plot is a ploy to get Sheridan out of the station "to show what a big, manly, studly guy he is". Contain your lust, JMS. Contain nothing, we support you.
  
• In the intro to the script, JMS also tells you what he had in mind when he wrote Sheridan's Dream. It's not quite the same as what the Lurker's guide has, but it's a little too long to type up at the moment. If anyone's curious I can give details in comments later!
  
• Ta'Lon was not named in this episode, but is identified when we meet him again in Season 3. He was intended to be a replacement aide for Na'Toth after Season 2's Na'Toth was let go due at least in part to artistic differences in how the character should be played. Even though we didn't quite wind up with a full arc for Ta'Lon like Vir or Lennier, I love so much how this subverts expectations of usual episode of the week style particularly in a later season, mid-season: you totally expect Sheridan to be the only person getting off that ship. Not only is someone else saved besides The Hero Protagonist Action Man, we actually see that guy come back in a non-trivial way. Even if it was accidental, it's great.
  
• We find out in either the script or the novelisation of In The Beginning (I forget which, possibly both) that no one - council members included! - is allowed to speak in the Council before unveiling their hoods. Kind of a transparency thing, I take it. Neroon very blatantly shoots his mouth off before he unveils himself - in fact, Delenn makes a point of it by saying she can't identify him. (As if Neroon isn't identifiable alone by voice alone.) Guy's been here two weeks and he's already breaking rules.
  
• A deleted scene reads: "Delenn inquires about Sheridan and Ivanova says he'll be on his feet any time. She thanks Delenn for her help. Delenn says that she'll get more involved with things on B5 in the future. She'd hesitated until now because last time, when she went to Sinclair, she was too late. She doesn't intend to be late again. After Ivanova exits, Delenn turns to Lennier and confirms that he'll always be with her."
  
• The Streib are sometimes implied to be Shadow allies, but the most support for that isn't in the show, it's in the technomage trilogy books. Prior to 2258, a technomage named Burell notices increased traffic through her planet of Zafran VII - mostly Drakh, Streib, and Wurt. They're all heading to the rim (presumably towards the part of the rim where Z'ha'dum lies). In 2260, Galen lands on Z'ha'dum himself, and observes that some of the Shadow thralls are Streib.
  
• Despite this, JMS suggests they don't have an explicit connection to either side (Earth/Minbari and later Vorlon, vs Shadow) even though they do look a lot like the Shadow surgeons we see in 3x14 - Ship of Tears (but they're not), and also given their tactics as described by JMS, you could make the inference that not wanting to go up against a force could push them into the arms of another, greater force more clearly positioned to win.
  
• The Streib are also not to be confused with the Vree whom we've seen before on the show. It's also not clear whether a) the Streib are members of the League of Non-aligned Worlds at all, or b) if they have ever made a diplomatic appearance on Babylon 5 before now.
  
• The fact that the Minbari, by Delenn's own admission, have a) encountered Streib who tried similar tactics with Minbari (i.e., kidnapping, experimentation, and ultimately making them fight), and b) tracked them back to their homeworld to 'make them aware of their mistake', does seem to imply that Minbari Holy Wars don't completely exterminate a race, as a rule. Or maybe the Streib's offence wasn't as bad as the Humans' offence and it didn't merit the Holy War designation.
  

A Slight Critique and a Fic Rec
Personal opinion time: there's one of the more obvious 'writer is writing writingly' moments in this episode which I think negatively affects the dialogue and makes it sound incredibly stilted, and it's this exchange between Delenn and Sheridan after she returns from the Grey Council back to Babylon 5:
      Sheridan: I used to think there was nothing worse than being all alone in a crowd.
      Delenn: But there is. Being all alone in the night.
I find it cheesy, it feels like it's supposed to be A Profound Moment because Oh Wow Isn't That The Episode Title, but I feel it falls flat. 'All alone in the night' - is this a cliche misapplied? Is this a mistranslated Minbari expression that never gets outed as part of the cultural worldbuilding? Is this trying to be more evocative and poetic than it actually is able to be? Do people really talk like this? I'm not sure, all I know is it's one of (many) places where I love JMS' writing - I really do - but not like this.
So I'm reccing this fab fanwork: Never Alone by vjs2259. I really like this fic because I think it helps bring a lot more emotional punch and nuance to what that moment could have been, and also brings more of the John/Delenn feels that I think should have been more central in that moment but (for me anyway) weren't.

Comments

[shipperslist]

First off, I love Lennier. And I'm pretty sure we all love to hate Neroon.

The dream gave me some serious Twin Peaks vibes.

[kanadka]

Haah, I wish I could say I love to hate him, but I think at this point it's just love. (Lennier is great too though! I love his character arc - on a recent rewatch I realised I really like his episodes as a ranger in S5.)

+1 on the Twin Peaks vibes. There can never be enough 'dreams that are properly surreal in the right dream-like way but also chock-full of symbolism'!